The Labyrinth's Princess
by Caelia di Mekio
Summary: Caitlin Williams never knew her father. But when her mother crosses the line, Caitlin recklessly wishes her away to the very man who started it all. Now, she has only thirteen hours to save her mom, learn the truth, and maybe even fall in love.
1. I Wish

No one saw the barn owl in the shadows, watching. Everyone was too busy getting caught in the spell of a teenage girl. With striking blue eyes, shimmering dark blonde hair, and a voice that was almost otherworldly in its talent, Caitlin Williams was not a girl who could easily be ignored. The owl, if such a thing was possible, was smiling a tight-lipped smile as Caitlin closed her eyes and began to sing.  
>"Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing! Thanks for all the joy they're bringing! Who can live without it? I ask in all honesty, what would life be? Without a song or a dance what are we? So I say thank you for the music, for giving it to me!"<br>The owl let out a soft hoot. The girl did have potential, an impressive amount of potential. Caitlin kept singing, "Mother says I was a dancer before I could walk... She says I began to sing long before I could talk... And I've often wondered, how did it all start? Who found out that nothing can capture a heart like a melody can? Well, who ever it was, I'm a fan! So I say thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing! Thanks for all the joy they're bringing! Who can live without it?I ask in all honesty,what would life be? Without a song or a dance what are we? So I say thank you for the music, for giving it to me!"  
>Oh, yes, it was in her blood, alright. The plan had worked just as he'd hoped. She was everything he could have asked for. "I've been so lucky," Caitlin sang with passion, releasing her blonde hair from its ponytail and letting it cascade down her back. "I am the girl with golden hair! I wanna sing it out to everybody! What a joy! What a life! What a chance! Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing! Thanks for all the joy they're bringing! Who can live without it? I ask in all honesty,what would life be? Without a song or a dance what are we? So I say thank you for the music, for giving it to me!" Everyone in the old barn was standing up now, dancing and clapping along as Caitlin finished. "So I say thank you for the music, for giving it to me!" The clock chimed in the distance, seven full pure notes.<br>"Aw, crap!" Caitlin yelped. "I don't believe it, it's seven o' clock! Come on, Erik!" The little black terrier with the white patch on the right side of his face scampered over from a hay bale, leaping into his mistress's arms. "I'm sorry, guys! I'll see you in rehearsal tomorrow!"  
>"Bye, Cait!" several of the other children called. The owl took off, soaring after the young girl, fully aware that she was completely oblivious to how very like another lost girl she sounded.<br>XxXxX  
>"Oh, it's not fair!" Caitlin wailed, desperately trying to keep her long white skirt out of the mud as she ran towards her grandparents' house.<br>"What's not fair?" a voice asked coldly. Caitlin's heart sank. Sarah Williams stood on the porch, dressed way too nicely for a night of babysitting Uncle Toby's girlfriend's baby niece.  
>"Mom! I'm sorry! I told you I had rehearsal!"<br>"You said six o' clock! You're an hour late!"  
>"I didn't think it mattered! I mean, it's not like we had any plans," she paused to look Sarah up and down. "Any plans that I knew about, that is."<br>"Caitlin, I've taught you to be impeccable with your word! You said six o' clock, and you did not keep that promise!"  
>"Sar? You ready to go?" Caitlin whirled to see Paul Dunn, her Lit teacher standing by his old VW, wearing a shabby trench coat over a suit and holding an umbrella. "Our reservation should hold long enough for us to get there."<br>"Caitlin—" The fifteen year old didn't hear her mother as she stormed into the house and upstairs. Baby Lucy started screaming at the top of her lungs.  
>"Oh, shut up, Lucy!" Caitlin shrieked. "What? Do you want a story? Fine! At least one of us will get what she wants!" She picked up the old red leather-bound book from the bedside table. "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl who had everything she could possibly want! She had a wonderful mother, and they lived in a land teeming with energy and magic. But the mother became selfish, and began to change, taking the girl away from everything she knew and loved! But the girl loved her mother, she wanted to believe there was still hope! And so, she suffered in silence.<br>"But there was a secret that, in fact, not even the girl knew. She was born to magic! It rang out in her blood, it sang in her heart!" Thunder crashed outside, and Lucy kept screaming. "And the girl realized she was special, so she called out with the deepest ache of her heart to a race that might help. The Goblin race."  
>XxXxX<br>"Listen!"  
>"Is it her?"<br>"Will she say the words?"  
>"Shut up!"<br>XxXxX  
>"She cried out, 'Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be, take me away from here to my destiny!"<br>XxXxX  
>"Ah, no better than the other one. Where do they come up with this rubbish?"<br>"Not even using 'I wish.' Honestly!"  
>XxXxX<br>"Lucy, stop it!" Caitlin ordered, slamming the baby's pacifier into Lucy's mouth. A rap sounded at the door.  
>"Caitlin? Baby, can we talk?"<br>"God, Mom, there's nothing to talk about!" Caitlin snapped, yanking the door open and brushing past her mother.  
>"Look, I know it's weird to have me dating after all this time—"<br>"You're not going to listen, are you? YOU NEVER LISTEN! Sometimes... sometimes..." Caitlin turned to stare her mother straight in the eye. "Sometimes, I wish... I wish..." Sarah's face paled and her eyes widened, as if she'd just seen a ghost.  
>"Caitlin, don't—" But Caitlin stomped into her room and locked the door behind her, whispering her wish.<br>"I wish the goblins would come and take you away right now." She clutched the little book tightly to her chest, the gold lettering winking in the light.  
><em>The Labyrinth.<em>  
>XxXxX<br>_Outside, the barn owl's eyes gleamed wickedly, as it spoke with a low, lush human voice. "Finally, Sarah. Finally."_

* * *

><p><em>I DO NOT OWN LABYRINTH EXCEPT ON iTUNES. I<br>Caitlin Williams (c): Me  
>Sarah Williams (c): Jennifer Connelly, Jim Henson<br>Jareth (c): David Bowie, Jim Henson  
>'Thank You For The Music (c): ABBAMamma Mia!  
>Keep in mind this is set in 2002, 16 years after the events of the original film. So, if things ever seem dated, that's why.<br>_


	2. Entering the Labyrinth

Caitlin sighed, glad she'd gotten her temper out of her system. The entire house was completely silent. Not even Lucy was making a sound. Outside, rain pounded on the windows, and an owl hooted. "Mom?" Caitlin called. There was no answer. "Mom, are you okay?" She stuck the book in the pocket of her vest and started back into Lucy's room. The light switch had been flipped to the 'on' position, but the lights were off. Had a fuse blown only in this room? Lucy looked up at her with big scared brown eyes.

"Aw, it's okay, Lucy. I'm here." Caitlin picked up the baby, bouncing her on her hip. A bolt of lightning shot past the window and the windows blew open with a gust of wind. She heard cackling and whirled around. Indescribable little fuzz balls were slipping through the shadows, snickering evilly. Both girls screamed as the owl from outside flew into the room. Caitlin unceremoniously dropped Lucy on the bed, throwing up her hands in defense. A blast of some kind of dust washed over her. It smelled like baby powder and as she pulled her hands down, she saw that they were covered in glitter, which was swirling off the black cape of a man.

At least, she thought it was a man. He was nothing like anyone else she'd ever met. His wheat-blond hair was almost as long as hers, and the top half looked a bit like an explosion. He wasn't very tall, really, maybe only an inch taller than she was. His eyebrows arched, giving him a slightly evil look, which was only emphasized by his strange eyes. His left eye was deep brown of an oak tree's trunk, but the other…. The other…. The other was the same icy blue color as Caitlin's own right eye. The difference between her eyes was much less noticeable, something she'd never understood. Her left sky-blue eye, she knew she'd inherited from her mother, but her colder, paler right eye had always remained a mystery. "You're him… aren't you? You're the Goblin King." she whispered. He only smiled, revealing crooked teeth. "I want my mom back, sir, if you don't mind."

"I very much do mind, Caitlin," he said, his voice a velvety tenor. "What's said is said."

"But I didn't mean it!" she protested, clutching Lucy a little closer.

"Oh, you didn't?" he asked, smirking. "How very like your mother you truly are."

"Bring her back!"

"Leave it be, Caitlin. She is where she belongs now."

"She belongs here! Please, give her back!"

"I've brought you a gift." The Goblin King held out his hands, and a shimmery glass ball appeared. He started flipping it over in his hands. Caitlin stepped forward, snatching it out of his hands and mimicking his actions fluidly.

"What is it?"

"A crystal, of course. But if you have the proper abilities, which I believe you do, turn it the way you are doing now, and look into it, it will show you your dreams. But it is not a gift for a girl who would turn her back on magic simply to have her mother back." He snapped his fingers and the crystal flew off Caitlin's arm and back into his palm. "Do you want it?"

Caitlin's eyes narrowed. "The crystal for my mom, is that what you're saying?" The Goblin King only smiled. "No."

"Don't defy me, stupid girl," he hissed quietly. The crystal crackled and sparked, turning into a snake. He tossed it towards her and Caitlin snapped her hands up to eye level to stop the snake from choking her. "You are no match for me, Caitlin."

"How do you know? Give me the chance to prove you wrong!"

The Goblin King laughed dryly. " Are you certain that is what you want? There will be consequences if you fail, Caitlin. You and your mother will never leave the Underground."

"Listen, tight-pants, I don't know if you noticed, but I am not one to back away from a challenge," Caitlin snapped, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Are you prepared to face danger? Darkness?"

"Bring. It. On." The Goblin King smiled. Caitlin snatched Lucy up from the bed just as a furry little goblin with an owl's beak tried to grab the baby. "Where is my mother?"

The Goblin King stepped aside, pointing to a twisted collection of spires in the distance. "There. In the castle. You're foolhardy enough that I will not try to discourage you. On the contrary, I'm rather looking forward to seeing how you do. You have thirteen hours in which to solve the Labyrinth before you and your mother will have no way of ever escaping." Without another word, he vanished.

Lucy squirmed against Caitlin's hip. "Oh, God. I can't carry you the whole way, and you can't walk yet…." Caitlin muttered, glancing down. She was still wearing the skirt she'd used for rehearsal over her jeans. "Oh, well. I guess I'll have to get a new one." She set Lucy down for a moment, pulled off her skirt and started ripping it into long strips. Then, she picked Lucy up again, carefully tying the baby to her back, Sacagewea-style. "Let's go."

She started down the gently sloping hill, the walls of the Labyrinth seeming to grow taller as she approached.

XxXxX

Sarah was running her fingers along the window when he returned. "Hello, precious," Jareth crooned.

"I have nothing to say to you, Jareth." The dark-haired beauty said coldly, keeping her back to him.

"Ah, but you just did say something."

"Jareth!" Sarah whirled on him, tears streaking down from her exquisite sky-blue eyes. "Stop it! All I wanted was peace! After… after… after all that, I'd hoped you'd have left me alone! I won, I deserved at least that much! But no! I had to find out, weeks later, that I'd somehow wound up PREGNANT! For SIXTEEN YEARS, I have raised, cared for, and loved a child I never asked for! I busted my ass to get myself through college, with Caitlin on my back, because I couldn't afford daycare or a sitter! I worked double shifts, triple shifts, just so she could have food and clothes, and an education! And what have you ever done for her? Nothing! And I don't care if you think I say this too often, but it's not fair!"

"Sarah."

"Just leave me alone."

"Sarah, I never meant to hurt you."

"Oh, well, congratulations! You did something you didn't mean to!" Sarah shrieked, running up and punching him in the chest. Jareth didn't budge as her fists crashed against his torso. On the contrary, he welcomed the touch of the woman he'd been spent years longing to be with. "I hate you! I hate you!"

"Don't you want to see how Caitlin's doing?" Sarah froze. He'd found her soft spot. As much as she hadn't wanted his child, she adored the girl. Jareth spun a crystal on his fingertips, the image of his daughter growing to fill it, as the crystal expanded, too.

XxXxX

"Holy **** on a **** sandwich!" Caitlin shrieked as an arrow whizzed past her chin, clipping of the zit at the tip and embedding itself into the Labyrinth wall. Lucy blurbled happily into the shoulder of Caitlin's embroidered vest. "Lucy, cut that out!"

"Gods above, mortals have gotten more profane and more careless than my studies have shown!" Caitlin, still rubbing her chin, turned to see who had fired the arrow. It was a boy, maybe a year older than she was. His flaxen brown hair seemed to have no sense of direction, sticking out in every way possible, so it was held back with a braided leather cord. His eyes stared her down coldly, were the same intense green as a fresh maple leaf. His chin was dimpled, which would have been cute if he hadn't looked so angry. "Well?"

"Um…. Nice shot?" she squeaked, glad she was able to retain most of her comprehension around boys, even solid tens like this one.

"Move," he ordered, brushing past her to pull out the arrow. "Damn that Jareth! All my family asked was that he uphold his end of the treaty! Sixteen years, we wait for his blasted heir, his so-called princess, and now he's making me run this nightmare of a labyrinth. And now! Now, I have to run into a mortal!"

"A mortal? Like you're not?" she retorted. The boy pushed back his hair, revealing a pair of… pointed ears.

"I'm a member of the Elven race, you idiot! Mortal education is seriously lacking if you can't tell!"

"O… kay… you've got a chip on your shoulder, huh?"

"Chip on my…. PLEASE SAY THAT YOU ARE JOKING!" he yelled, yanking out the arrow and sticking it into the quiver on his back. "Did you not hear everything I just said?"

"Well, it made absolutely no sense. You might as well have been speaking Mandarin in France." Lucy burped, as if to punctuate the sentence. "God, Lucy, cut it out!"

"And with an infant in tow no less! And how do I even get into the Labyrinth?"

"Um, through that door there?" Caitlin suggested, pointing to a large pair of iron bound doors. As if by magic…. Well, probably by magic, given where they were, the doors swung open as she pointed. She hoped the thirteen hours didn't start until she entered the Labyrinth. The boy looked her up and down with a little more respect.

"Do you have a name, human?"

"Caitlin."

He gave a small bow. "My Lady Caitlin. I am Aydyn, prince of the Elven people."

"Is that supposed to impress me?"

"I was expecting a little more respect, given you are in the presence of the heir to an ancient race. After all, when was the last time humans were united under one ruler?" Aydyn demanded, striding proudly through the doorway. Caitlin followed only half reluctantly. If her friends knew that she was hanging out with royalty, they'd be so jealous, Aydyn's eyes would look white in comparison to the color of their envy.

"Um… never."

"My point exactly."

"Someone's got a big head, doesn't he?" Caitlin muttered, turning to see what her options were. "What the hell? What kind of Labyrinth is this supposed to be? There aren't any turns or anything! It just goes on and on!"

"It's rare that our races agree on anything, but on this point, I will concede." Aydyn set his jaw, causing his dimple to deepen. "I dislike being deceived, and it seems this is such an occasion. Nevertheless, I have a task to accomplish, and if it means running in a straight line, so be it." He started towards the right.

"Hey! Wait up!" Caitlin ran after him when a familiar, disgusting smell started rising behind her. "Aw, crap! Lucy!" The baby started wailing. "Oh, damn it! I'm never going to get anywhere if I have to keep stopping to change your stupid diapers! Oh, it's not fair!"

"Allow me." Aydyn snapped his fingers and Lucy disappeared.

"Wait, what did you do to her? Am I gonna have to solve an elf's Rubik's cube to get her back?"

"A WHAT?"

"I'll take that as a no," Caitlin sighed with relief. "You will give her back right? When we're done running this thing?"

"Of course. Unlike the goblins, my people gave up the tradition of changelings long ago." They traveled in silence for a little while. "What? No witticisms? Please. Entertain me."

"Um, in the stories I know, the elves do the entertaining!"

"You cheeky little—"

"'Ello!" The two teenagers stopped arguing and looked for the source of the voice. "I'm down 'ere! The wyrm!" Caitlin caught sight of the furry blue caterpillar.

"Aw, he's so cute!" she squealed, bending down to eye level with the little creature.

"O gods, not a wyrm!" Aydyn moaned. "Leave it be, Caitlin, they are useless things."

"Stop being so negative," she retorted. "Mister Wyrm…"

"Lionel, miss. You never did get my name when I invited you to pop in for tea with me and the missus last time."

"Last time?" Caitlin repeated. "I've never been here before!"

"Sure you have! You was lookin' for turns and I showed you one right in front of you, and made sure you didn't go to that awful castle."

"Castle!" Aydyn snatched up the wyrm from his little ledge. "Where is the turn and which way to the castle?"

"Oh, come on inside!"

"WHICH WAY?"

"Aydyn, stop! You'll crush him!" Caitlin gently pried open his fingers and took Lionel in her hands. "Lionel, how can we get to the castle?"

"You go forward, then right. Oh, but, miss, you shouldn't go there!"

"We've got to! My mom's in the castle!"

"But—"

"Look, if you're so worried, you can come with us." She transferred him to her shoulder and turned toward the wall.

"We are not taking him!" Aydyn scowled, scratching at his pointed ears.

"Yes, we are!" Caitlin retorted.

"Oh, no, I couldn't, miss! Myrtle, she'll be waitin' for me to come in for tea!"

"Are you sure?"

"Just let me down, miss. I'll be fine." Caitlin acquiesced, letting him crawl down her arm onto the ground. "Good luck!"

"That was a waste of precious time," Aydyn nagged as Caitlin started towards the right.

"I thought you didn't care about me!"

"I'm traveling with you solely because the Labyrinth opened for you. I believe that there may be things you're not telling me. I need to solve this place, and I think you can —you will— help me reach the end."

"Oh, well, it can only go downhill from there!" Caitlin snapped, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Glad to know you enjoy my company!" As they continued, neither of the two teenagers noticed the black leather cord shimmering into existence around Caitlin's neck, a green and yellow flecked sky blue stone dangling from the end.

XxXxX

"That was less than promising." Jareth said, snapping his wrist back. The image retreated back to the crystal. Sarah stumbled backward and Jareth caught her gently. "Careful. I know they can be disorienting at first."

"That doesn't really answer any of my questions, Jareth."

"All in due time, love."

"Don't call me that. Who is that boy? What aren't you telling me? I WANT ANSWERS, DAMMIT!"

"Patience. And lower your voice." Jareth urged. "If you truly want answers, this is not the place."

"What clued you in? The crowds of goblins or the random black chickens? Where should we take this, the Escher room?"

"Is that what you call the Hall of Planes, Sarah?"

"Well, to me, it looks like something M.C. Escher would design. I had a poster almost exactly like it in my room as a child."

"So you did," Jareth murmured, smiling fondly at her. Sarah felt a blush begin to creep up her cheeks. How did he know how to do it so well? "But no, we will not be going to the Hall of Planes. We will be going into the Atrium Temporis."

"The what? What language is that?"

"Hall of Time. And the language is Latin. Your family named it, back when they decided to convert."

"Convert? Jareth, all you're doing is making me more curious and giving me more questions to ask!"

"All in good time. But, Sarah—"

"Yes?"

"You must be willing to trust me." He offered her his hand. "Are you?"

"You can't hurt me. That would violate your agreement with Caitlin."

"In other words, you don't want to trust me, but you have confidence in our child's abilities."

"In MY child. You've never done anything for her."

"You'd be surprised what I have done for her." Sarah stared at him in disbelief. "You didn't think I'd abandon my own heir, did you?"

"I don't know what to think anymore," she muttered ruefully. "I honestly don't. I'm thirty-one years old, I have a fifteen year old love child with the king of goblins, yet I'm a virgin… Please, enlighten me. How am I supposed to be acting?"

"That's my Sarah."

"I'm not your Sarah. Just Sarah."

"Do you have any knowledge of who you truly are, Sarah? However fervently you may try to deny it, we have a bond that is far too complex, and, dare I say it, tangled to sever."

"Please, don't start with that whole 'everything I've done, I've done for you' bit."

"Fair enough. Suppose I were to say that everything I've done, I have done for us. For our future and for our child."

"Jareth, I already said—"

"Sarah." He placed a finger to her lips. "What more would you have me do?"

"If you really love me, why not just say it? Where I come from, there are simple ways, easy ways to show people that you care for them. You don't trap them in nightmares, you don't betray their trust, and if you respect them, you leave them alone when they don't want you to be around." Jareth was silent. "You can't, can you?" Without warning, his mouth came crashing down upon hers.

She should have been furious. She should have pushed him away. She should have slapped him. Those were the things she would have done sixteen years ago. But now…

Now she almost… welcomed the taste of his lips on hers. _Snap out of it, Sarah! He's a freaking goblin… fairy… thing… damn, but he kisses really really well… Oh, God, what am I doing? No power over me, no power over me… Oh, hell, he can have power over me, this is incredible..._


	3. Mysteries of Time

"It's incredible…" Sarah whispered. She took a step forward and her foot began to sink down. "Jareth!"

"I've got you!" Jareth's gloved fingers wrapped around her arm and pulled her up. "Really, Sarah, you ought to know to watch where you step."

"This is the Atrium Temporis?" she asked, looking around at the hall. Mists in every color of the rainbow swirled around, and when she squinted, the colors turned into scenes, memories from her past.

"Founded by the Antal line," Jareth explained, brushing aside a red puff of mist.

"Antal? That's my mother's maiden name!"

"Which is why the name has died out. Your mother was the last of the line."

"You mean I'm part of some kind of dynasty?"

"Not just 'some' dynasty, Sarah. The Antal family was the bridge between the human race and the Others. Every great human dynasty has had at least one of your kin in its midst. And the Atrium Temporis records all."

"If every great dynasty has an Antal, then how is my mother the last?"

"The bloodline is dying, I told you. There may be others out there with Antal blood, but it's not pure, the way yours is."

"Then Caitlin—"

"Has Antal blood combined with my own. It's a potent combination."

"You answered me all those years ago because I was Antal, didn't you?"

"In part," Jareth answered, shifting slightly. Sarah raised an eyebrow. This wasn't the suave, confident Goblin King she'd met years ago. He seemed almost… normal. Well, maybe not normal, but human. "O Oracle, I stand before you with the Princess of the Antal family. Time runs short, and we have need of you."

"Jareth, there's no one he—" Sarah started to say, but at that moment, the figure of a little girl shimmered into view, noticeable entirely thanks to the absence of colors. Her skin, her hair, her eyes, her clothes, all were a pure milky white, as if she'd been carved out of a giant pearl. "Oh, my God…."

"Jareth." Sarah shuddered as the girl spoke. It didn't sound like the voice of a child, but like three old women speaking in harmony. "Princess. Come forward." Jareth nudged Sarah's shoulder.

"She's talking to you. Your name means 'Princess' in the Hebrew tongue."

"You know Hebrew?"

"It's one of the Ancient Languages, and all non-human races are born with the ability to speak them—"

"NOW," the Oracle hissed firmly. Sarah timidly took a step closer to her, and the Oracle reached out one tiny finger and placed it on her forehead. "Indeed. I can see."

"What—"

The Oracle threw back her head, cutting Sarah off, and began to chant in a language Sarah didn't know, yet understood.

Heed my words, Princess Antal

Pride is always before a fall

O'er thee, Fae holds no power

But in thy daughter's thirteenth hour,

If she fails, then all is lost

And many lives shall be the cost

Elven Prince must pay her court

And win her fast, for time is short!

With those words, the Oracle dissolved into the mists. Sarah scowled. "That was less than helpful."

"Less than helpful? Sarah, do you understand what is at stake here?"

"Enlighten me."

"If Caitlin fails, it's no longer a question of just the two of you staying here. War will erupt between the Goblins and the Elven people!"

"War?" Sarah's face hardened. "Explain."

XxXxX

"So… Jareth's not a goblin?" Caitlin asked, laying a hand on the wall. "Hmmm… vimuku." Nothing happened. "So much for the 'sacred Lotis words.'"

"Humans are so odd," Aydyn mused. "But yes. He's Fae, and a cousin of my family."

"Who rule the Elven race."

"You catch on quickly, don't you?"

"Yep. Please, keep going, I love a good story."

"Story," huffed Aydyn, "this is my people's history!" Caitlin stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "Fine, fine, anything to get that ridiculous expression off your face. In return for my family's help, Jareth promised that one day this section of the Underground would pass into our control."

"How did he promise that?"

Aydyn wrinkled his nose in disgust. "How do you think? He made a ludicrous, but tempting offer. Apparently the Oracle of the Atrium Temporis predicted he would have a daughter by the last pure Antal heiress."

"Oh, I see," Caitlin realized. "An arranged marriage, I'm guessing. You and this Antal girl... How many times did she turn you down?"

Aydyn scowled. "That deal was made centuries ago! I'm only seventeen, and as far as I know, the girl doesn't exist!"

"Ooh, poor Aydyn, turned down by his imaginary girlfriend!" Aydyn slapped her across the face.

"Shut up!" he roared. "I have had it with your prattling and infantile insults!" She moved her fingers to feel the tender spot on her cheek.

"Nobody. Hits. Me. And. Gets. Away. With. It," she snarled, punching him in the jaw. "I don't care if you are a prince, you're still a dick! And you're wasting MY valuable time!"

"I'm not the one who led us into a dead end!" Caitlin spun around, and saw he was right.

"Oh... oh, yeah? What's that?" She pointed at a random wall, stalling for time. Suddenly, they pulled away, revealing two shields. Aydyn looked at her in disbelief.

"How did you...?"

"I don't know, I'm just a mere mortal, remember?" she retorted cattily, flouncing towards the shields. "What are these?"

"Gaa-aates!" Four little doglike creatures poked their heads out from behind.

"Wah!" Caitlin shrieked, falling backwards on her butt, her head knocking against Aydyn's shins. "Ow." He pulled her up.

"I am sorry for striking you." The words sounded formal and insincere.

"I'll think of accepting later. Right now," she turned back to the dog-things. "Where do the gates go?"

"One of them leads to the castle, and the other one leads to certain death!" the bottom dog on the right said cheerfully.

"Certain death? Which is which?" Caitlin wailed.

"No, no, you can only ask one of them," the blue one on the bottom left said. "And one of 'em always lies, and one of 'em always tells the truth."

"I can only ask one..." Caitlin repeated, then pointed at Aydyn. "Can he ask one?" The one on the bottom right nodded. "Okay, then..." she turned to the top blue dog. "Does this door lead to the castle?"

The little creature scrunched his face in thought. "Yes." Caitlin smiled.

"Thanks. Aydyn, come here for a bit."

"You wasted your question," he said coldly.

"Ask the red one if the blue one just said his door leads to the castle." Aydyn's green eyes widened. "You get it!"

"Clever," he said impassively, doing as she asked. "Did the guard next to you just say his door leads to the castle?"

"Yes," the little dog answered.

"He told the truth, which means his door is the one that leads to the castle!"

"Hey, that's not fair!" the blue one blurted.

"Your point?" Caitlin taunted, pushing open the blue one's door. "This is a piece of caaaaake!" Her smugness turned to shrieks as she began plummeting down. "Aydyn, help me!"

"You idiot!" Aydyn yelled, diving in after her. Caitlin let out a yelp as fingers danced along her back.

"Stop groping my ass!"

"I am not!"

"SOMEONE, HELP!"

"Whaddaya mean? We are helping!" a voice called.

"We're helping hands, after all!" another voice said. "She's just like that other Antal girl!"

"Other Antal girl?" Aydyn and Caitlin echoed.

"Come on, come on, which way? Up or down?" another set of hands asked.

"Umm... down, I gueeeeeeeeesss!" Caitlin screamed as the hands simultaneously dropped her.

"O inferne! Send me down after her, she's bound to get into trouble."

"Shut up, Aydyn!" Caitlin shrieked, landing hard on her butt. "Owwww..."

"Who's there?" a slightly frog-like voice croaked. A match sizzled, lighting a candle and a leathery face appeared. The dark eyes set with in the skin widened. "It can't be..."

Caitlin, despite her wheat-colored hair, had never given anyone reason to think she was a dumb blonde, and had already pieced together what everyone in the Labyrinth was talking about. "I look like Sarah Williams, don't I? You know her, right?"

"A long time ago," the little man stuttered.

"Your name, dwarf." A silver tip gleamed in the candle as Aydyn drew out a dagger. "Now. I am not patient."

"Aydyn, just because you're a prince does not give you the right to threaten him. Put the knife away, and let him say what he wants."

"I'm Hoggle," the man said. "An' you do look like her, Miss."

"I'm her daughter. My name's Caitlin."

Hoggle shook his head. "Aw, no... no..." He was shaking uncontrollably.

"Hoggle, are you okay?" Caitlin put a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"You look like him, Caitlin!"

"Like..." She didn't say out loud, but she knew: Jareth. She looked like Jareth.

"Sir Hoggle!" A door in the wall swung open, and the cutest little squirrel-creature Caitlin had ever seen scurried into the darkness. "Why art thou still in the oubliette? Hast thou not heard the news? Lady Sarah is returned to the Labyrinth! Our brother Ludo awaits us eagerly."

"Sir Didymus!" Caitlin snapped her fingers, remembering her mother's old bedtime stories: the valiant Sir Didymus, keeper of the Bridge of the Bog of Eternal Stench! "Good sir, can you aid us?"

"Certainly, my Lady..."

"Caitlin. And my companion is Prince Aydyn."

"Glad to know you remembered I exist, human."

"Who seems to have forgotten his manners," she added, sticking out her tongue. "We need to reach the castle. May we join you and Hoggle on your journey?"

"But of course, fair maid! It is far safer for thee to travel with an escort, especially with a battalion approaching!"

"A battalion!" the two teenagers yelped.

"Let's not waste time!" Aydyn urged, stepping through the door after Didymus, with Caitlin and Hoggle bringing up the rear.

"Holy..." Caitlin couldn't think of a proper word to express the sight waiting for them. The red behemoth in front of her reminded her of the giant stuffed animals she'd used to worship in the windows of New York. Instinctually, she threw her arms around his neck.

"Sawah?" the furball asked in a pitiful rumbly voice.

"Cait-lin," she corrected firmly. "But don't worry, you'll see Sarah soon."

"Who is this Sarah, exactly?" Aydyn demanded as the group set out, Hoggle leading the way.

"My mother. She used to tell me bedtime stories about this place. I never imagined this was all real. Mom has a great imagination. It's the one escape from our crappy lives."

"Explain."

"She got knocked up when she was fifteen. Her dad and stepmom kicked her out, and she ran away to New York City and raised me on her own. Then, Gramps sent her a letter saying he was sorry, and Mom came home. But before that…. We were living in tenements, Aydyn, the worst kind of homes in Manhattan. Mom worked around the clock, I was on a scholarship…. We weren't very well off. But New York was… is my home. It's where I belong."

"How many summers do you have?"

"Huh?"

"Your age, Caitlin."

"Fifteen years old. Why?"

"How is it you know where you belong, if you're so young?"

"I just do, okay? I want more than life in suburbia! I'm going to be a singer and actress, and find my father—"

"Find your father?"

"Yeah. So I can beat the shit out of him for abandoning my mother."

XxXxX

Jareth pulled away from scrying the crystal. "May I guess who put such ideas into her head?"

"You have no one to blame but yourself, Jareth," Sarah retorted coolly.


	4. Breaking

"I miss Mom," Caitlin wailed, kicking a pebble with her secondhand Ralph Lauren loafer. "And I want to go home!"

"That makes two of us," Aydyn muttered.

"You miss MY mom?"

"No, idiot, I miss my mother!"

"Then why don't you give and go home?"

"Because my mother was exiled and forbidden to see me!" he snapped. "She was when she spoke out against the idea of my having an arranged marriage. And my father does not appreciate people defying his decrees."

"Sounds like a nice guy," Caitlin said sarcastically.

"He also knows when people insult him, so I suggest you stop talking."

"You love your dad?"

"He's my father."

"That's not an answer." Caitlin snapped. "I hate my father."

"I thought you said never met your father."

"I haven't. That's why I hate him. He abandoned me, and my mother. He has never done anything for us, and for that, I am never going to forgive him. It's this little thing called abandonment issues." Caitlin searched his face for any evidence if he knew what she'd figured out. "Hey… where'd Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus go?" The dwarf, monster, and fox-terrier had disappeared.

"Maybe they got tired of hearing you whining and complaining."

"Maybe they got sick of your high-and-mighty attitude."

"Maybe they–" Aydyn didn't get to finish his sentence because a clap of thunder roared and rain began to pour down on both of them. "Ugh…..

"Got a tent in that magic backpack of yours?" Caitlin quipped.

"It's not a magic backpack."

"Do you or not?"

"No, I don't. Now get into that tree, it should fit us both fairly comfortably."

"Ewwww…. Gross!"

"I have no intention of trying to force myself on you." Aydyn rolled his eyes, waving his hand to expand the cavern inside the tree.

"Is this a passage?" whispered Caitlin, stepping into the hollow. It was warm and dry, but dark, and reeking of freshly churned soil.

"No. It's merely a temporary shelter."

"How long will it take before the storm lets up? I'm running out of time…."

"Why do you care so much?"

"She's my mother! How can I not care what happens to her?"

"I have no way of knowing."

"You mean you never…"

"My mother was exiled when I was a year old and didn't require her anymore."

"Are women that disposable in your community?"

"To my father, they are," Aydyn said quietly.

"But not to you?" Caitlin asked, sinking to the ground. Aydyn bent down so his emerald eyes met her different-shaded blue ones.

"One day, I will rule the Elven Kingdom. It will be my responsibility to oversee the welfare of the empire my father has required. Every man, woman, and child will be looking to me for support, for guidance, for protection."

"Wow. And here I thought you were just an arrogant asshole."

"I was raised for certain things, Caitlin. I've always known what my destiny will entail. That's part of why you confuse me so much. You don't act like the girls I'm used to. They're all aware of their duties, their obligations to their families."

"You're a monarchist nation."

"An empire, but yes. Arranged marriages are common."

"And everyone just accepts it?"

"Perhaps you should enlighten me as to how your world works." So, Caitlin told him. How most people started dating based on common interests, or the Internet, which required a whole other explanation. She talked about how music was mainly for entertainment, about iPods, video games, cell phones, and television. She told him about the Harry Potter series, and all her other favorite books and movies. She talked about Josh, the gay boy who'd practically jumped her on her first day at her new high school and become her best friend. Through it all, Aydyn's eyes never left her face.

"I'm doing all the talking. Tell me more about y—" Aydyn cut her off by pressing his lips against hers. Caitlin was certain her eyes had to be popping out of her face in shock. Aydyn's kiss reminded her of the sun god's voice in her favorite Sarah Brightman song, Meadowlark: both gruff, and tender. His fingers gently twisted themselves into her hair, pulling her closer. "Aydyn…. My mom…"

"Leave it be… Stay with me… Caitlin, I've never met a girl like you."

"Well, duh," she laughed, "seeing as you've never met a human."

"No… please, believe me. I know…"

"Aw, jeez, Aydyn, don't give me an 'It Only Takes A Moment' speech. Besides, you're Mr. I'm-engaged-to-Jareth's-half-human-daughter-to-fulfill-a-pact." Inside, Caitlin was reeling. Did Aydyn really like her that much? As much as she found herself liking him?

"I think I might be more in favor of the human way of doing things. Let's do it."

"Um… no…." So he definitely didn't know who she was…. Well, that was only making it harder… "Aydyn. I can't."

"Caitlin…"

"You can walk away from your family, but I can't. I won't. My mom needs me. And I'm going to save her. She's my mom, I love her, and I need to set things right. I'm sorry, Aydyn, but you don't belong with a regular teenage girl." With that, she turned and ran.

If the Labyrinth is mine at all, she thought, please don't let him follow me….

XxXxX

"She broke his heart…" Sarah whispered in shock. "I never knew my daughter could be so…"

"Like her mother?"

"Jareth, please. It's not the same at all."

"I practically begged you, and you shot me down in flames."

"I was fifteen!"

"As is Caitlin. How is she any different? He offers her everything, she turns him down. Sounding familiar?"

"Jareth, please…"

"Mom!" Both of them turned to see Caitlin. Her blouse was torn, her hair tangled, her blue plastic clip missing, her face smudged with dirt. And a huge, breathless look of elation on her face.

XxXxX

"Caitlin…"

"Mommy…" Caitlin ran directly into her mother's arms, sobbing heavily. Jareth watched them, a desperate longing tugging at his heart. "Mommy, I'm so sorry…"

"Oh, baby, how did you get here so fast?"

"I helped her." The responding voice was cold as ice. Jareth raised his eyes to see…

"Ryder."

"Really, Jareth, you have time to be chasing down human paramours, but you can't fulfill the pact made centuries ago!"

"Ryder—"

"Enough. I'm sick of your excuses. These two mortals are going back, and you, Jareth, are going to pay for your insults." Ryder turned his attention to Caitlin, who thrust her arms protectively in front of her mother.

"G-get away…" she stammered. "Get away."

"You get out of here!"

"NO!" Jareth yelled, trying to throw himself in front of Ryder's bolt, but Ryder threw out a barrier, blocking him.

"The Labyrinth will not be ruled by a wretch like you, Jareth. You broke your word."

"SARAH! SARAH!" Jareth pounded on the wall. Sarah raised her blue eyes to lock with his and mouthed three words. Caitlin screamed. And then everything went black.

XxXxX

Caitlin opened her eyes in shock. She was lying in the guest room bed, Lucy grinning at her from the crib. "Lucy? Are we back?" She couldn't say home. After tonight, the little suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut would never be home. But neither would New York. Caitlin slowly opened her CD player and switched to a song she hadn't played in a long time. "How strange, this feeling that my life's begun at last… this change… Can people really fall in love so fast?"

"Hey, drama queen. Tone it down," her Uncle Toby laughed as he walked into the room. His shirt collar was open a lot further than it was when she'd last seen him, and there were several red marks on his throat. "Lucy, baby, Nina's waiting for you downstairs. Oh, and Cait? Next time you go bed, wear pajamas rather than your clothes, especially if they look like that."

"Uncle Toby?"

"Yeah?" Toby barely looked at her while picking up Lucy.

"I went there… it was incredible…"

"Waaaay too much info, Cait."

"No, Uncle Toby, you don't get it…" But he was gone. Caitlin curled into the fetal position. "Aw, God, Aydyn, what have I done?"


	5. My Kingdom Is As Great

"Caitlin, baby, eat something. You need your energy for tonight's show." Sarah gently placed a hand over her daughter's listless one.

"I'm not doing the show. Call Josh and tell him I need to cancel."

"Oh, no, Caitlin. You are not getting out of this, you made a commitment."

"I don't care."

"Baby-girl, starving yourself won't change anything," Sarah chided, setting down the tray of Egg McMuffins and bacon on the nightstand.

"Mom…" The doorbell rang, cutting her off.

"I'll be right back. Try to eat." Sarah kissed her forehead and headed downstairs.

Caitlin closed her eyes, and focused. Ever since she'd gotten back from the Labyrinth, weird things had been happening, things she was still trying to control. "If walls have eyes and ears, give me yours," she intoned softly, fidgeting with the strange blue stone that had shown up around her neck, and she hadn't noticed until she got home. The chanting worked, apparently, because she saw her mother standing in the foyer, talking to Josh.

"She says she's not getting up."

"No way! Ms. Williams, we need her!" Josh wailed, twisting his Louis Vuitton scarf into knots. "Where is she?"

"In her room, but-" Josh started stomping up, and Caitlin severed the connection just as he burst in.

"Caitlin, you get your ass out there! How DARE you try to bail on me! I can't believe this! You know what? I am dragging your ass down to the Barn, right now."

"Josh-" But with surprising strength, he yanked her out of bed, hefted her over his shoulder and marched down towards his car. "JOSH! CUT IT OUT! JOOO-OOSH!"

XxXxX

Aydyn slipped down the stairs towards the Abyss of Oblivion, praying his father wouldn't catch him. There was no way Ryder would allow him to be alone with Jareth.

"Aydyn." He turned to see his sister Ilya standing a few steps above him. "Father wants to see you."

"Tell him I'm out hunting."

"You want me to lie to our father?"

"I need to talk with Jar… the prisoner."

"Aydyn…"

"He has answers I need."

"You aren't still hung up on that mortal girl, are you?"

"Only so much that her essence seems to consume my own. And Jareth is the only one who can give me the answers. Please, Ilya."

"This is the last favor I EVER give you."

"And it's the only one I'll need." Aydyn hurried down the steps into the swirling blackness. "Jareth. Are you there?"

"As much as I can be … when my very being is getting sucked into nothingness… boy," Jareth's voice came, hoarse and sarcastic, none of the lyrical velvet quality it has originally possessed remaining.

"Is Caitlin your daughter, Jareth? That's what I need to know. I kept thinking it was possible, just as soon as she left me."

"Is that so?"

"Please! Tell me!"

"Figure it out for yourself…" Jareth grunted. "I can't help you… You have to do the rest yourself."

"How?"

"No...more…." Jareth's head dropped down. The Abyss had sapped too much of his consciousness. Aydyn headed back up the stairs, rubbing the tips of his pointed ears. What was he going to look like as a human?

XxXxX

"Places, everyone! Queen Medley followed by Come What May! Go! Go!" Josh double clapped his hands, as every one hurried out onto the stage again. Caitlin eyed the exit desperately. "Don't even think about it, Cait."

"Fuck you," she grumbled, grabbing her mic and joining the others onstage. The lights flared on and everyone raised their mics and sang.

"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality... Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see..."

"I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy!" Josh took the lead, in his true prima donna fashion. Probably hamming it up for his precious boyfriend, Grant.

"Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low..."

"Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me, to me..."

Caitlin squeezed her eyes shut, taking center stage for her first solo bit. "Mama, just killed a man... Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger, now he's dead... Mama, life had just begun, but now I've gone and thrown it all away! Mama, oooh... Didn't mean to make you cry! If I'm not back again this time tomorrow, carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters..." She was glad they'd shortened the song, because Josh could ham it up long enough for her collect herself.

"I see a little silhouette-o of a man! Scaramouche, scaramouche, will you do the fandango?Thunderbolts and lightning - very very frightening me!"

"Galileo!" Caitlin wailed into her mic.

"Galileo!"

"Galileo!"

"Galileo!"

"Galileo Figaro - magnifico-o-o-o…" Caitlin melted into the back to pull a rapid costume change, wishing she could just drown herself in a bucket of ice water, she felt that crappy.

"Beelzebub has the devil put aside for me, for me, for me, for me.…" Everyone pulled aside to reveal Caitlin, now easily noticeable in a pure white dress against the spectacle of colors.

"Can anybody find me somebody to love?" The audience followed the switch easily, swaying to the ballad. She closed her eyes, trying to fight back the tears. "Each morning I get up I die a little… Can barely stand on my feet. Take a look in the mirror and cry, Lord, what ya doing to me. I've spent all my years believing in you, but I just can't get no relief. Lord, somebody, somebody, can anybody find me, somebody to love?"

"Got no feel, I got no rhythm! I just keep losing my beat! I'm okay, I'm alright, I'm alright, I'm okay, but I ain't gonna accept no defeat! I just gotta get out of this prison cell! One day, I'm gonna be free! Lord, somebody! Somebody! Can anybody find me somebody to love?"

"Everyday, I try and I try and I try! But everybody wants to put me down, they say I'm going crazy! They say I got a lot of water in my brain! Got no common sense , I've got nobody left to believe! Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah…" She dropped to the ground like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

"Find her somebody to love, Find her somebody to love, Find her somebody to love Find her somebody to love Find her somebody to love Find her somebody to love

"Can anybody find me…." Caitlin took a deep breath and finished the last phrase. "Somebody toooooo Lo-o-o-o-o-ove…" The lights suddenly flickered off, blunging the Barn into darkness. Caitlin felt someone's fingers latch around her wrist and a pair of rough lips pressed against her own. When they pulled away, the mystery kisser spoke.

"Caitlin." The single word in his husky voice was enough confirmation.

"Aydyn...you...you're here...how…"

"There's no time. Come on, you've got to get us into the Labyrinth."

"How?"

"You mean you don't…" he huffed in irritation. "Hold on, I'll get us to a more private location." He chanted something and Caitlin felt the same weird tugging at her gut that she had when Ryder had sent her and Sarah back to Earth. "Better."

"Ooh, jeez, those things hurt my head." Caitlin rubbed her temples as she looked around at Heather Park. Aydyn seemed very unsympathetic to her migraine.

"Who are you?"

"Aydyn, please, don't…"

"Answer me!"

"Okay…. Okay, fine. Yes. I am Jareth's daughter. Is that what you wanted to hear?" she asked angrily. "But it doesn't change anything."

"Doesn't change anything? Caitlin, you've put your world and your father in danger!"

Caitlin felt her chest tighten. "What?"

"Because you weren't there, your father is now trapped in the Abyss of Oblivion, and when he's gone, without any heir, the Labyrinth will disappear, too!"

"What do I have to do?"

"Come back. Defeat my father and reclaim the Labyrinth before it's too late."

"But how? I've been trying to get back to the Labyrinth ever since I got—" Then it hit her. A line from her mother's story. "Of course! The way forward is sometimes the way back! The words, the words…. What was the line? Oh, right! Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way to the castle beyond the Goblin City—" she changed the line a little. "To take back that precious thing which you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours, and my kingdom is as great… and you, Ryder of the Elven people, have no power over me!" The wind roared in her ear, whipping up her hair, and blinding her. The last thing she heard in her ear was Aydyn's whisper.

"I love you."

XxXxX

When she awoke, she was lying on the ground of the throne room. Her white dress had been replaced by a full length blue-and-white gown trimmed in green that looked like something out of the set of Mel Gibson's BRAVEHEART. Her hair was now swept up and a pointed silver crown encircling it. The blue stone on a leather cord had transformed into a delicate silver chain with a blue and white crystal pendant, and a matching ring rested on her left forefinger. "YOU!" She looked up to see Ryder sitting on HER father's throne.

"I don't think that's yours, usurper," she retorted coldly. "Get your ass off that throne right now." She felt herself get jerked up into the air and pulled about five inches away from his face. When she'd first met Ryder, she hadn't realized he was Aydyn's father. The physical resemblance was nonexistent, save the piercing green eyes. His wrinkled skin, hooked nose and thick eyebrows gave a clear indication that Aydyn's mother probably wasn't missing her husband very much.

"You dare to return, mortal? After I fulfilled our bargain and reunited you with your pitiful mother?"

"Yeah, well, throwing my father into an Abyss of Oblivion was never part of that deal." She retorted, spitting into his eye. Ryder threw back his head and laughed, a wheezy, hacking sound that spewed phlegm. Caitlin wrinkled her nose in disgust, and prayed Aydyn wouldn't be like that someday.

"You expect me to believe that YOU are Jareth's daughter? Ha!"

"If you don't believe it, you should have no problem in battling me for the Labyrinth." More phlegm spewing. Charming.

"Impetuous chit!"

"Oh, so you do believe it now? Make up your mind. Jeez, your son wasn't this indecisive when he was sucking face with me." Ryder's papery face was turning purple with rage. "I mean, on a scale of one to ten, I might have kissed a couple of eights in my time, but wow….he's more like a twenty."

"Give me one reason not to snap your neck right now."

"Oh, right, that'll make you look really tough, won't it? Killing a fifteen year old girl?"

"You want a spectacle, brat? Very well." Ryder released the tendril of power holding her in the air and Caitlin dropped nimbly to the ground. "But you have signed your own death warrant."

"You took the words right out of my mouth," she replied, clenching her fists. "Bring it on."


	6. A New Era

Caitlin dug her heels into the ground, glaring at Ryder. He'd just _had_ to pick the place that made even a seasoned Rye Playland visitor like her want to puke: the place her mother had always called the Escher Room. "What next, the set of _Vertigo_?"

"Are you finished rambling to yourself, girl?"

"_SILENCE_!" Caitlin screamed. The entire room shook with the force of her voice, and Ryder stumbled slightly. "You're in my domain, Ryder! And I'm the one in control here!"

"Is that so? Well, let's see you handle this!" A blast of light shot from Ryder's palms, directly at her.

"Defend me!" Caitlin screamed. The stones at her feet rose in front of her, blocking the brunt of the explosion. The Labyrinth seemed to groan in protest. She wasn't going to be able to do this on her own. Ryder had experience on his side, experience, physical fitness...nothing was in her favor.

XxXxX

Aydyn ran along the passages, panting heavily. "_Seek out Hoggle,_" he intoned. "_Prince of the Land of Stench. Seek out Didymus, Guardian of the Bridge. Seek out Ludo, Blood Brother of Didymus._" He glanced up momentarily, and the entire world seemed to shake. The battle was raging, and there was no way Caitlin was winning. The odds were stacked against her too much. The silver essence shimmered in front of him, laying the path out to them. They would only be a start, but but a start was a sufficient diversion while he freed the rest of the Goblin army, and, last of all, Jareth. This was probably foolish, but the abyss could only be broken if Ryder's power was severely weakened. _Know thine enemy_. That phrase had been drummed into him since childhood. And now, he was turning it against his father to help the girl he loved. "I'm coming, Caitlin. I'm coming."

"Not without me, you aren't." He turned in shock to see Sarah Williams standing behind him. "This is my battle, too, Aydyn. My family is involved."

"But you're human—"

"I ran this Labyrinth once before, I will again." The steely look in her eyes was so similar to Caitlin's that he couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"My apologies, m'lady. I forgot who I was talking to."

"I figured." Sarah smiled dryly. "Well?"

"Follow me," he replied, running along the trail of the essence. "We have an army to break out."

XxXxX

"Running away?" Ryder's voice rumbled through the labyrinth, knocking several chunks of stone from the ceiling. Caitlin rolled out of the way, but her skirt still got pinned under one of them.

"Ugh!" she grunted, tugging at the dress futilely.

"Caitwin hurt?" a low, grumbly voice asked. She looked up in shocked joy.

"Ludo! Can you ask the rock to get off me?"

"Yup," he nodded slowly, before letting out his deep growl. The stone, despite being a cube, rolled off her skirt.

"My lady Princess!"

"Sir Didymus!" Caitlin opened her arms to hug the little fox-terrier. "Hoggle! Mom!"

"And an entire army is awaiting your command, Princess," Aydyn interrupted, striding forward. Caitlin felt her heart skip a beat. He looked every inch the warrior prince, in a leather jerkin and pants, his hair smoothed back into a gold and leather headband. "Just say the word."

"Aydyn...all this for me?"

"The Labyrinth is your right. They're here for you. Give the order." He held out his sheathed sword for her. Caitlin wrapped her hands around the hilt, remembering that swords were much heavier than they looked in the movies and drew it out, raising it over her head. Her arms cried out in protest, but she held firm.

"Reclaim what is ours! Drive out Ryder and restore the Labyrinth to its former glory!"

"Huzzah!" Didymus yelled, leaping onto his dog and riding out. "I shall give the order, my Princess!"

"Thank you, Didymus. Hoggle, Ludo, you go with my mother to find...to find my father." She smiled sheepishly. "This is his battle, too, right?" Sarah smiled.

"You're growing, sweetheart."  
>"Mooo-ooom! Not in front of the elf prince, please?" Caitlin whined as Aydyn chuckled.<p>

"I'm getting impatient, little fool!" Aydyn grabbed back the sword and sliced through the slab of stone that was about to hit Caitlin's head. "Aydyn!"

"If you hurt her, I'll kill you, father or not." Aydyn replied calmly, sliding Caitlin behind him. She fought the urge to comment of her sense of deja Princess Bride as she and Aydyn stared down the wild-eyed king.

"She is a human girl!" Ryder spat. "She is barely worth the breath it takes to say her name, and yet you would attempt to slaughter your king for her? You are a fool, Aydyn, just as your mother was."`

"Draw, then!" Caitlin felt her nails bite into her palm as she clenched her fist and Aydyn began sparring with his father. Sparks flew as their swords clashed again and again. If this kept up, Aydyn would get hurt.

"STOP IT!" she screamed. "JUST STOP IT!" The soft meaty flesh of her hand cried out as her nails sliced through the skin, crimson blood dripping to the ground. The stones seemed to suck up her blood, and suddenly, the twisted Hall of Planes looked a little cleaner...brighter…. She got an idea. A crazy, reckless, idiotic idea. Without another moment's hesitation, she grabbed a shard of rock and slashed it across her palm, spattering the walls and floor with her blood. "By blood begun, by blood, it's done! Drive out the invaders, as demands the Labyrinth's Princess! I am Caitlin, daughter of Sarah and Jareth, and this is my kingdom!"

XxXxX

"_Jareth!_" That voice… he knew it… "Oh, my God, Jareth… I'm so sorry…" A pair of gentle hands pulling him out of the blackness. "Jareth, stay with me! You're not dying on me now! You've still got sixteen years of my life to make up for, you hear me? You can't die when… when I need to tell you that you were right. And that I love you." Soft and tender… he knew these lips….

"Sarah?" His eyes flickered open to see her smiling down at him.

"Welcome back, Goblin King. Now, are you going to go help our daughter, or not?"

"Where is she?"

XxXxX

"Caitlin, stop!" Aydyn's voice was fuzzy at the edge of her brain...it was getting hard to focus…. "You're losing control! Listen to me! You need to stop."

"Uhhh…."

"Caitlin! Can you hear me?"

"Baby?"

"Sarah, it won't do any good. The Labyrinth is sapping her life force."

"Jareth, there has to be something!" Aydyn's voice interjected.

"There's one way...but it's never been done. We don't know whether it will work or not."

"I….I can't breathe…."

"Hold on, Caitlin….just hold on…"

"She's our daughter! You have to do something, don't you?"

"Sarah...it would cost me my life. The only thing I can possibly do is trade her life force with my own. Otherwise, Caitlin has to regain control on her own."

"Mine…." Caitlin whispered haltingly. "I just want what's mine."

"Caitlin?"

"I finally have a father…." She clenched her fists. "Enough! I'm staying! No one is taking this away from me!"

"Don't be so sure!"

"_FATHER, NO!_"

"**_RYDER!_**" Her father's roar boomed in her ears. There was a loud crash. A rumble. And then….nothing.

XxXxX

"Sarah, you're not going to change anything."

"How can I leave her side now? She hasn't woken up for three days!"

"She wielded the power of the Labyrinth better than anyone else I've ever seen. She'll make it through." Jareth placed a hand on her shoulder. "She is our daughter."

"A fat lot of good that's done her."

"There's still hope." Aydyn murmured, coming into the room and sitting at Caitlin's feet. "I went to the Atrium Temporis. Her life's not over yet."

"Did the Oracle say anything?"

"I couldn't find her."

"We're doomed."

"Sarah, please!"

"Jareth, she can't die!"

"Actually, I feel much better," a hoarse whisper came from the end of the bed.

"Caitlin!" All three of them rushed at her, crushing her in their embrace.

"Hey...no...squishing the princess…." she groaned.

"You're okay! You're okay!" Sarah sobbed joyfully.

"We're not in a dungeon, are we?" Caitlin asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Because I hear prison food is just gross."

"You're not in a dungeon, princess." Aydyn smiled, touching her hand lightly. "Um...could we have a moment alone?"

"By all means."

"Jareth!"

"Aydyn is a gentleman, Sarah. He's not about to get into illicit behavior with a recovering young girl." Caitlin stuck out her tongue.

"And I know not to have sex without a condom. Jeez, Mom."

"Caitlin Linda—"

"Kidding! Seriously though, bugger off, please?"

"Why, you little—"

"GOOD-BYE, MOTHER," Caitlin said loudly, waving her hand.

XxXxX

"Do you feel alright?"

"I'm fine, really, Aydyn," she sighed, pushing her blonde hair out of her face. "What happened after I passed out?"

"Your father dueled mine. To the death."

"I thought you were all immortal."

"He sentenced Ryder to oblivion. In our case, it's a lot worse than a mortal death, because it destroys our very essence….our souls."

"But that means…. You… You're…."

"I am."

"And now?"

"The agreement is void. I won't force you to be my wife."

"Are you saying you don't want me?"

"What? No! No, I do want you! But I don't want you to feel like you're being forced into it and—" Caitlin grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss.

"Get this straight, Aydyn. If you think I'm going to walk out on you after all the crap we've gone through, you've got another one coming. Because I'm not. You…. Well, you're probably the most amazing person I could ever meet. And… I used to think what I wanted was to move back to New York. To be a star… But there's so much more than that…. Now that I've experienced the Labyrinth, I don't think I could go back…. Actors… they pretty much live by lying. And I don't know if I can do that. The Labyrinth… this is where I belong. With my parents…"

"And me?"

"And you."

_Reunited with his beloved, Sarah, Jareth resumed his reign, and made a fresh start that lasted the remaining seven years before his daughter, Caitlin Linda Antal Williams, assumed the throne at the age of twenty-two. It was at this time that Caitlin accepted the offer of Aydyn, the King of the Elven People, to be his wife and consort. The two of them ruled their realm with a firm but generous hand, and no other rulers have been remembered as fondly among the kingdoms of the Underground._

* * *

><p><em>AN: Thanks for sticking by me through this._


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